“On the spot”: Kim Jong Un fires cabinet vice-premier during tour
- Kim Jong Un dismissed Vice-Premier Yang Sung-ho on the spot during an industrial visit, citing “incompetence” and “irresponsible” management of the country’s economic modernization efforts.
- The public firing serves as a severe warning to the North Korean bureaucracy as the regime prepares for the Ninth Party Congress, where a new 2026–2030 five-year plan for “self-reliant” economic growth is expected to be unveiled.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has fired his Cabinet vice-premier during a tour and inauguration of a machinery complex, state news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
“Kim Jong Un dismissed Yang Sung Ho, vice-premier of the Cabinet, on the spot,” the KCNA report said in report on the inauguration, providing no specifics on the reason for the dismissal, which took place on Monday.
The removal took place during an inauguration ceremony marking the completion of the first stage of a modernization project at the Ryongsong Machine Complex.
“Incompetent” Leadership Rebuked
While the state-run media did not provide a specific legal or criminal justification for the firing, it highlighted Kim’s extreme dissatisfaction with the management of the national economy.
In a speech at the complex, Kim launched a scathing verbal attack on “irresponsible, rude, and incompetent economic guidance officials,” blaming them for delaying the project.
According to the KCNA report, Kim stated that the ruling Workers’ Party had reached a “clear-cut determination” that the current economic leadership is incapable of overseeing the necessary technological overhaul of the nation’s industry.
Yang Sung-ho, who had served as Vice Premier since April 2020 and was previously the Minister of Heavy Industry, was considered a key technocrat in the North’s drive for self-reliance.
